NORTH LEWISBURG – The Triad Local Schools board on Thursday approved last-minute hires for the school year, which started Wednesday.
The board approved hiring English/Language Arts teacher Jenna Fograscher and Physical Education/Health teacher Dustin Bair. Both one-year contracts started Aug. 15. The board also approved hiring Library Aide Leslie Gregg, beginning Aug. 17.
Superintendent Chris Piper said the start of school went pretty well, that he heard of few problems in the bustle of the first couple of days.
Piper said district officials have access to test data from the most recent round of tests, but do not have comparison data from other districts in the state yet. The Ohio Department of Education has said it hopes to have school report cards out in September.
“Typically this time of year, there’s a lot of chatter, a lot of buzz around the state and area about test scores. This year it’s been very quiet,” he said, speculating that the results are much lower than past years. “People are afraid to talk of scores.”
Piper said from looking at the raw test data, Triad students hit 14 of the 27 indicators at his last count, and that is similar to what other districts he’s heard from have seen. He said he also heard from a superintendent who didn’t hit a single indicator.
The data is needed sooner rather than later so teachers can determine the subjects that need to be addressed.
Piper said he was encouraged to see the ACT test scores are in, and this year the district’s students were above the state average in three areas and in the composite score. Last year, the district’s students were not above state averages for any areas or for the composite score. And some of the areas students missed were not by much. For example, English students missed an indicator by .2, Piper said.
“That’s very close. It could be one kid, one question,” he said.
In other action, the board:
•Accepted the resignation of Library Aide Erika Carter, effective the end of the 2015-16 school year.
•Accepted the resignation of English/Language Arts teacher Melinda Shilling, effective the end of the 2015-16 school year.
•Approved hiring 1:1 Bus Aide Vicky Culp for the 2016-17 school year.
•Approved hiring Building Leadership Team member Kacy Moore at Step 1; Science Club Advisor Will Mutters at Step 0; Teacher Mentors Leslie Bradley (2nd) (Step 1), Shari Dixon (Step 1), Stephanie Chatwood (Step 1), Chris Smart Meigs (Step 2), Paul Waibel (Step 1), and Tammy Walls (Step 2); Assistant Cross Country Coach Martha Lehman at Step 0; Assistant Football Coach Aaron Clune at Step 0; JV Volleyball Coach Shari Dixon at Step 5; and Fall Weightlifting Coach Jason Malone at Step 3; all for the 2016-17 school year.
•Approved hiring Assistant Football Coaches Tony Groves (Step 0) and Justin Louck (Step 4); and Wrestling Head Coach Tyler Graff at Step 1; all for the 2016-17 school year.
•Approved the contract with Meade’s Paving for minor crack repairs and seal coating the asphalt at the high school parking lot at an estimated cost of $28,332.
